I've been shooting bows for about 65 years. Killed my first deer, an 8 pt, with a Bear Grizzly 40# recurve and fiberglass arrows with Bear Razorheads. Switched to a compound several years after they came out and hunted with them for a long time. Getting up in age I now hunt with a crossbow and still shoot my 45# recurve occasionally for fun but I don't think I'm proficient enough to hunt with it anymore. I sold off my compounds but thought for $80 it would be a nice little bow to have on hand as a back up in case something happens to my crossbow.
I was looking for any insight. This is a neat little bow and may be a good purchase. Heck, the accessories are probably worth the $80. I may just head on up and get it soon, if they still have it.
Except for the crossbow, we are just about peas in a pod: Mom and Dad gave me my first Sears & Roebuck 20 lb fiberglass recurve archery set for Christmas sixty years ago, and I've been shooting bows ever since. There were a few years between high school and returning from my last Army deployment (Korea) at about age 32 when I didn't have much time or opportunity for archery, but since then I've shot a bow nearly every day when the weather has been OK, or when I had access to an indoor range. Since coming back from Korea I've done most of my big game hunting with bows. I switched to a compound with sights in 1989, but could never get used to shooting with a release aid. Don't have anything against them, but for me, shooting with a release aid just ain't archery. So when compound bows started getting too short to shoot with fingers, along about 1998, I went back to recurves.
For the last six years or so I've been shooting one of the so-called "super recurves" with limbs that are made from specially woven carbon fiber material which is much stiffer in torsion for a given stiffness in a simple bend. That allows the limbs to have a much deeper recurve than can be achieved with laminated fiberglass, and can therefore be designed to have a much higher pre-load, and a force-draw curve which flattens out as the archer reaches full draw. Some of the most advanced super recurves actually have just a little bit of let-off as the archer reaches full draw. Super recurves therefore store much more energy for the same draw weight than can be achieved with a conventional recurve: I shoot recurves which draw about 53 lbs at my draw length (28 1/2 inches), and my best conventional recurve shooting 540 grain arrows delivers about 34 ft-lbs of energy at that draw length and weight. With my super recurve at the same draw length and weight, I can get somewhat higher arrow speeds and 46 ft-lbs of arrow energy with 675 grain arrows. Nothing comes for free, though: super recurves are very unforgiving of inconsistencies in shooting form, and are therefore difficult to shoot well. However, I've finally mastered mine to the extent that I'm confident enough to take shots at game out to 20 yards under most conditions, and out to 30 yards if I'm shooting well and the shot conditions are favorable.
In 2019 I stalked and killed a nice mulie buck in the extremely open, steep, and rugged lower end of Hell's Canyon with my super recurve. Getting the meat out required climbing 500 vertical feet up to a ridge top, and then carrying it 2 miles out and 2000 vertical feet down. Got the buck boned and packed out in one day, which made me realize that I'm still capable of hunting in places like that. Now that I've located half a dozen elk hotspots within 3 hours or so of my new home in Montana, I'm hoping to kill an elk with the super recuve in 2024. Came close in 2023, but a shifty little breeze decided otherwise just as a herd of elk were about 5 yards from being in range.
I think you're right, if there's nothing wrong with the little Bear bow that you found, and if it's the right draw length and weight for you, you can hardly go wrong for $80.